Savannah Sparrow

Here's a Savannah Sparrow I met last spring. These sparrows look a bit like the very common Song Sparrow, though they've got some light yellow around the eyes. (Their breast striping doesn't converge in the middle either, though you can't see that very well in my picture.)

Savannah Sparrows don't have any extremely close relatives, though perhaps that will change. It sounds like there is some evidence that 1 subspecies, the Large-billed Sparrow, really ought to be a separate species. Bird taxonomy marches on!

While I'd like to tell you that I saw this sparrow in a savannah, I don't think we have true natural savannahs in New Jersey [1]. It is possible that I saw it in a meadow, which might be a little like a temporary savannah. In actuality though, the Savannah Sparrow was named after Savannah, Georgia, where the species was 1st recognized [2] back in 1811.

May 4, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 278563451, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] My impression is that a savannah is a more or less permanent grassland with some trees/shrubs that have gained a foothold but never really threaten to take over the grassland. I suspect if New Jersey had near-annual wildfires suppressing the trees/shrubs, we'd qualify as a savannah.

[2] At least it's the 1st time the sparrow was recognized by European settlers. It wouldn't be shocking if some Native Americans knew about them for centuries.

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